Cracks
by AndrogyMous
Summary: This story was a fill for the mass effect kinkmeme. After a passionate night of sex, Liara leaves scratches on F!Shep's back. Hilarity ensues.


MY APOLOGIES: I re-read this fic [Taken by Rae Magdon] today (12/16/12) and realized I unintentionally lifted all kind of content from it. I wanted to list the fic as inspiration, and hope for forgiveness if I stepped on anybody's toes.

NOTES: This story was a fill for the mass effect kinkmeme. After a passionate night of sex, Liara leaves scratches on F!Shep's back. Hilarity ensues. I don't know how hilarious this was, but I tried my damndest. Hope you like it!

BIG OLE SPOILERS FOR THE OMEGA DLC. DON'T READ IF YOU INTEND TO PLAY IT.

"Cracks"

It started just after Shepard got back from Omega. She'd find crew mates with their heads huddled close, looking at Shep and giggling. Her crew's behaviour grew more and more suspect as days passed; Traynor giving her a saucier than usual grin, Joker remaining suspiciously quiet in her presence, the chatty women in the scan room suddenly at a loss for words when she'd come through, and then the day after defeating the reaper on Tuchanka... Wrex giving her a sly smile in the armory as they pried off their gear and saying, mysteriously, "Nice." Even Liara was acting unusual around her, Shep could swear she caught the woman blushing at her the way she used to when they first met.

"What the hell is going on?" she paced the gun battery room, arms crossed over her chest, glancing over her shoulder to look at Garrus expectantly. Garrus cleared his throat. "Why hello, Shepard. Good to see you too." She stopped and glared at him, "I'm serious Garrus, what the hell is going on? My entire crew either falls dead silent around me, can't look me in the eyes, or giggles when I walk by." she paused, almost afraid to ask... "Have... have you heard anything about... what happened on Omega?" If Garrus had eyebrows, surely he would have cocked one at that moment. He never stopped calibrating the ships canon, "What happened on Omega?" Shepard, in an uncharacteristically nervous gesture, ran a hand through her hair, "Uh.." Shepard coughed dryly, "Aria and I stopped Cerberus." At this, Garrus turned to survey the commander, his movements and eyes surely conveying his disbelief. After years of fighting baddies, winning and losing arguments, and laughing with his bestie, he knew exactly where to press with only a look to make her unravel. Shep's shoulders slumped in defeat, she spoke in utter resignation, "Aria kissed me." Garrus looked thoughtful a moment, as though pondering her predicament with great concern. Then his shoulders began to shake as he burst out into cruel (in Shepard's scandalized opinion) raucous laughter. "Aria kissed you? BWAAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh man." he wiped a tear from his cheek with a careful talon. "It's not funny, Garrus." "Oh, my lungs would beg the differ." She glowered at him, wishing for once she had some biotic talents. Where was her rifle when she really needed it? "Are you finished?" Garrus made a valiant effort to pull himself together.

"So... Aria kissed you?" a pause, "What was that like?" he leaned against the canon in anticipation of her response. "Incredibly awkward. It reminded me of the kind of kiss a gang leader on earth would give someone before brutally killing them." Shepard's brows furrowed at the memory of her life before joining the marines. "With Aria that is entirely possible," Garrus response was flat, "Do you think it was a threat? That seems like the sort of custom she would pick up gladly." Shepard shook her head, "No, she thanked me for not stopping her when she killed Petrovsky, made a clumsy declaration that 'perhaps having a partner isn't so bad' then grabbed me by the shoulders, pulled me to her, and kissed me. I was... startled. Before I had sense enough to pull back she pushed me away." Garrus smiled, "Oh, this is too good. Do you think our dear Shadow Broker has a copy of the footage?" Shepard grimaced. "That's why I came here. I thought the entire crew knew about the incident." Garrus's mandibles twitched, "Well, Tali doesn't know, and if she doesn't then no one does." Shepard fell gracelessly onto a steel bench, "Then what the hell is everyone's problem? Even Wrex was acting strange." Garrus shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you, except perhaps to start with Wrex." She rest her head against the wall, staring up at the ceiling as though it would somehow show mercy and collapse into her frontal lobe, "With the mischievous smirk he gave me? If I am in the mood for mercilessly embarrassing truth I'll give him a call."

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Shep, Liara, and Garrus had finished suiting up and were heading out to Grissom Academy when she saw it... THE LOOK. The gawk turned impish grin that everyone had been wearing on their faces for WEEKS on the ship. And that damnable knowing look was on her best friend; Shep had never felt so betrayed and she was no stranger to betrayal.

Shepard stepped off the Kodiak, creeping briskly through the halls of the academy. They were met by Cerberus troops. The three soldiers picked off the enemies with ease, Shepard sniping a trooper holding a full body shield, yelling gracelessly (in Liara's opinion) "Mail Slot!" to her bro as the enemy crumpled in a pile on the ground. Garrus yelled back just as artlessly, "I've already sniped three, you better catch up!" Liara sighed at their antics. Whenever the three long-time friends entered on a mission together, Shepard's composure faded to reveal her inner adolescent. She could only imagine how insufferable the two were when fighting alongside Wrex. If the three had not been quite so adept at killing she wasn't sure how any enemy could take them seriously.

As Shepard took off the head of yet another centurion (did Cerberus have some kind of a factory for these fuckin' things?), she yelled out to Garrus "You had that look, Garrus. THE LOOK! When we were on the kodiak." She was interrupted by the screams of an enemy falling in combat, "Why were you smiling at me like that?" Garrus peered through his scope, setting his sights on a combat engineer putting together a turret, "Oh, no you don't." he muttered to himself as he sniped the soldier's head clean off his shoulders. He glanced over his shoulder to spy Liara using a warp, on a few enemy combatants, "Gee, I dunno what you are talking about, Shepard. HEY, LIARA! Do YOU know what Shepard is talking about?" That was, perchance, the first time Garrus had ever seen someone blush becomingly while ruthlessly tearing an enemy apart limb from limb. Liara's expression turned to a scowl, "Can we PERHAPS have this conversation at a more opportune moment? Wherein PERHAPS we are not battling dozens of troopers?" Shepard and Garrus had a mirrored response: "PERHAPS!" Followed up shortly after by Shepard, "Mail Slot!" Liara was left only to shake her head.

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With Grissom academy cleared out, Shepard, Garrus, Liara, and Jack sat in the armory taking off their gear piece by sticky piece; the worst part of combat was the sweating. When Shep pulled her breast plates off she heard Jack exclaim from behind "Holy SHI-SHUCKS. Shepard! Did Vakarian finally nail The Queen of the Girlscouts? You are sporting some sexy-mean scratches!" Liara had only ever met the "crazy biotic" briefly during her tour of the newly rebuilt Normandy when it was still a Cerberus ship. They hadn't had even so much as a conversation, with Jack only grunting in the barest of acknowledgements to her presence at the time. She desperately wished for the Jack she had made so long ago to re-appear before her now. Blushing furiously, she seemed every bit the awkward archeologist she had once been rather than the nubile maiden she had grown into at Jack's words.

"What are you talking about?" Jack laughed that deep, slightly mad cadence Garrus realised he oddly missed at Shepard's confusion. Yeah, her stay aboard the Normandy, no matter how short, was going to be entertaining. "Are you kidding me, Shep? YOU DON'T FEEL THOSE?" She slapped Shepard's shoulder with her hand to punctuate her statement. "Ow." Shepard rubbed at the red mark her hand left. "Here, hand me your helmet." At this, Liara shrank. As a matter of fact, she shrank so visibly with embarrassment that Garrus chuckled to himself; this was gonna be funny. Jack angled Shepard's helmet in such a way that Shepard could see the multitude of scratch marks on the reflective visor. "Holy SHI-Shimmering Glory of FU-Fuck it. How do you not curse in front of the kids?" Jack turned to look at Garrus, preparing to send a wisecrack his way when she caught sight of one very mortified asari doctor. "Hohoho, bangin' the asari, Shep? How cliche! Is she a trophy or what?" Liara's back straightened instantly, her expression turning to one of irritation, "I am no trophy, and what, may I ask, is so cliche about having an asari lover?"

"Vaenia" one of the young male students spoke up. "WHAT?" the young man said incredulously as his female counterpart smacked him on the back of the head.

"Stow it, Jack." Shepard turned a wounded expression to Garrus. "Really, Bro? REALLY? You had to let me find this out from JACK?"

"WHAT?" Garrus mimicked the incredulous student so well that Jack couldn't help but laugh.

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"You're a lot more territorial than I expected, Doctor. I'm surprised you didn't just piss on her." Joker's voice crackled over the intercom as Shepard entered Liara's quarters. Outside, Shepard reflected nothing but well-practiced-Comander-calm. Inside, however, Shepard was whining impetuously like a bratty teenager. These, she guessed, were the kinds of conversations that had been happening behind her back for WEEKS. She wondered if people had been teasing Liara for just as long. Shepard let out a long, labored sigh. Yes, she acts like a fool with Liara, Garrus, Wrex, Tali, Ashley, Joker all of the soldiers-in-arms she has known for years. The people she considers her friends, with whom she's laughed, cried, blushed, yelled, and fought for. They were her family, but, damnit, she was still the Commander. "Joker," the tone with which Shepard said his name brooked no argument. "Oh shit. Sorry, Commander! Joker out!"

Shepard strode with purpose to Liara's bed and sat down, waiting for Liara to follow. Much to Liara's surprise, she did follow feeling every bit like a youngling caught with a bit of candy. Shepard took in a deep breath as she began, "It is important that I have the respect of people on my ship." Shepard paused, waiting for Liara to interject, but the lithe asari was being unusually compliant to Shepard's authority. "I cannot do that if my crew is sitting in dark corners giggling about the very obvious, very sexual scratch marks on my back. Why didn't you tell me people were talking about us?"

Liara's hands were clasped together resting in her lap as she sat by Shepard's side on the bed. How, exactly, should she go about addressing this question? Why is it, even after all the years she and Shepard had been together, she could still be reduced to a fumbling fool? It was Liara's turn to sigh, "Aria is... both paranoid and ego-maniacal." Shepard's insides tightened at the mention of the (ugh) "Queen of Omega's" name. "As the Shadow Broker, these facets of her personality are a boon for me; there are cameras all over Omega. When I saw that woman kiss you I felt..." her jaw visibly clenched, "I suppose I felt possessive."

"Possessive." Shepard repeated, as though she hadn't quite heard correctly.

"Yes, Shepard." Liara turned agitated eyes on the Commander, "And please do not feign ignorance; I hate it when you do that. You know that I am."

"Possessive," Shepard repeated yet again, requiring confirmation, using a single word like a vice of guilt.

"I am sorry," the asari said with a surprisingly meek tone.

"Heh, I thought the whole ship was in a ridiculous fuss over the kiss with Aria, not some scratches. I don't know what is sillier, that I couldn't possibly believe people were gossiping about our sex-life or that people genuinely believed I had no idea you left grooves in my back-really, calling them scratches does a grave disservice to your efforts." Liara flushed prettily at her words. Shepard's smile was warm, loving, and just a tiny bit sad as she reached up to brush the backs of her fingers against the doctor's cheek. "With everything we've seen, the blood, chaos, loss of lives, everything you've been through, I'm surprised but... so happy... you can still blush."

Uncharacteristically, Shepard's eyes glistened with unshed tears, each crystalline drop feeling like a star collapsing into Liara's chest at their absence. Goddess, she loved this woman, loved her fit to burst. She put both hands on Shepard's face and gently urged her into a kiss, the kind of kiss that took her breath away, burning sorrow to ash in its wake. They always put duty before themselves, when it was their love that reaffirmed their dedication to duty. Sometimes it took a pain-in-the-ass like Aria to remind them of that. As they broke off their kiss Liara mused the Shadow Broker would have to send the woman some sort of gift, maybe a couple of crates of rifles and sticky grenades?

"For the record, I like that you are possessive." Shepard's face was a mask of lasciviousness, she quirked a brow, "I think it's sexy."

"Oh...?" Liara remarked, a lazy smile on her lips, tilting to jut her chin ever so slightly in flirtatious defiance.

"Mmhmm. If I wanted to get rid of those scratches I would've thrown some medi-gel on them." Shepard climbed over Liara, pushing her back onto the bed. "I like being yours." Liara wrapped her arms around Shepard's neck, "Is that so?"

"Yes, and YOU" she growled, causing the asari to shiver with delight, "are MINE."

"Yes, I am."

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Shepard pulled off her uniform and began to fasten her breastplates when she heard a wolf whistle, followed by the low grumble of laughter... "Whoa-ho-ho, Commander, that doctor of yours is frisky, huh?"

"Keep talking like that and you'll be the first N7 recruit to spend the next six months scrubbing the floors of the mess, Vega." She tightened the last belt of her plates.

Cortez poked his head from under the hood of the Kodiak, barking loudly with laughter, "Hahaha, she told YOU, Pendejito."

Grabbing her helmet, she strode confidently with a smile on her face all the way to her weapons locker, gingerly touching a light scratch on the back of her neck.

Fin.


End file.
